Next up: John Paul, which doesn’t have its own entry in the Baby Name Wizard. One of the things that came out of the Kateri post that I loved was the difference between names you all thought were most like it in style, and names of real-life siblings of real-like Kateris. I LOVE seeing that Kateri fits in just as well with Anthony as with Ambrose, and with Tara as with Therese.

Here too, I’d love to know what names you think are most like John Paul in style, and what the siblings’ names are of John Pauls you know in real life. Also, how do the John Pauls you know spell their names? John Paul, John-Paul, JohnPaul, Johnpaul, or … ? And any nicknames they go by as well. Just to clarify, this only pertains to boys with the first name John Paul, not to boys with the first name John and the middle name Paul (though if their given name is John Paul and no other middle, and they go by the double John Paul, that counts). Thank you!!

Like this:

Related

Post navigation

54 thoughts on “Sibling Project: John Paul”

Unfortunately the one John Paul I know is an only child. He also has it spelled Jon Paul, which leads me to an interesting, but slight off topic, comment that I have. I feel like the spelling that parents choose for John Paul really says something about the parents. Like John Paul, John-Paul, Johnpaul and Jon Paul all have very different types of parents for me.

In terms of siblings, I feel like non-Catholics would think of John Paul as kind of middle aged more more likely to go with something like (Robert, which it totally does, but not the point). But I think John Paul can definitely go with things that are more hip and now like Cecilia, Eleanor, Kateri, Leo, Miles. John Paul seems super versatile in terms of siblings to me. It’s classic while still screaming Catholic. Seems like a good “bridge” name if parents went with something more common like Michael first and wanted to use something more “out there” like Blaise. Michael, John Paul and Blaise. It just kinda works for some reason.

I totally 1000% agree with you about John Paul being a great bridge name!! It takes two really “normal,” traditional names and blings them out, so it fits with other “normal” names as well as with more sparkly names.

We have a John Paul as our oldest, then Cecilia Therese, twins named Elizabeth Anna and Mary Claire (who goes by Mary Claire, so people think we’re into double names but it’s really just 2/5 kids…), and Peter Damian. Baby of unknown gender on the way, and we have absolutely ZERO names on the possibility list…

Thank you! It’s taken us a LONG time to agree on all the names after John Paul (a family name that had already been chosen for our firstborn son before my husband was even Catholic), but they’re all so *right* for all our kids 🙂

Ok, so our little one-year-old John Paul doesn’t technically count since he *does* have two middle names (Paul and Fulton), but we call him John Paul and intend for that to be the name he goes by for his whole life (specifically to distinguish him from his dad, who is also John) . . . so I’m chiming in. Hope that’s ok. 😉

His one and only nickname right now is John Paulie (*cuteness overload*), although relatives like to call him JP. I think the nickname JP is alright, but I like that he’s learning his full name right now and not a two-letter abbreviation. If he wants to go by JP in the future, though, we’d be all for it. I really liked the idea of the nickname Jack, but my husband knew an annoying Jack in elementary school and he couldn’t get past that whenever I suggested it. Ah well! John Paulie it is. 🙂

We have John Paul as our first, then Charles (Charlie) and Eleanor (Ellie). John Paul also goes by JP and occasionally just John (he is John Paul first and middle name, no other middle name), but most of the time the full John Paul

We know a John Paul with older siblings Michael and Gianna.
I know a John Paul who is about 20 years old now with a brother William Thomas (he goes by his double name also).
It seems like every family we know with at least 5 children that includes 2 or more boys has a John Paul 🙂

We have a little John Paul in our family (named after his father, so he is sort of a JPII haha, but really technically a Jr). He goes by Little John and John Paul. His siblings are: Benedict “Ben”, Maximilian “Max” (yes, after Kolbe), Evelyn, and TBA :). Other names that have been thrown around for this family are Cecelia and Adele. I love their naming style! I feel like its strong, papal (Max’s middle name is Peter), and the girl names are jut lovely too. JP Sr’s siblings interestingly enough, are more common to the 90’s and don’t have that same Catholic/biblical feel.(I won’t list those as I am not sure if I can haha).

I know a family with an Eddie (family name), John Paul, Andrew (family name) and Faustina.

We are expecting #8 and are planning on John Paul. I’d like John Paul Anthony but hubby says “too many names.” I tried to explain that without St Anthony, we’d never have car keys, the kids would never have matching shoes & no one would ever have socks…but he still says no. 😜
Our other kids are
Daniel Thomas
James Michael
Joseph William
Benjamin Jon
Samuel Luke
Twins:
Robert Jacob (nn Bobby)
Mary Lucille

Don’t know their middle names. They are an awesome Catholic family and they love strong names. The dad wanted to use Constantine for Anthony!

Our family is good friends with their family and so we have been debating if we should use Peter for our number three or not ;). Maybe you should do a post about name overlap? In a close parish like ours I think people try really hard not to pick names others have already used, but the more babies we all have the harder it is getting!

I know one John Paul, and he’s a year older than me (25 in July! Yay summer babies!). His two older sisters are Rachel and Rebecca, and he has a younger sister called Mary. His confirmation name is bartholomew. He goes by JP, and occasionally by JPK because his family name begins with the letter K.

We have Joseph (middle name Andre), John Paul (middle name Gabriel), and Emilie (middle name Marie). Other names we’ve considered are Dominic, Luc, and Kateri, so maybe they will be future siblings to our three littles.

My husband’s name is John Paul, so he is one of the first – named while JPII was still new to the papacy! He has 5 brothers — Matthew, David, Kevin, Joseph and Isaac. All of them have great middle names too, but my husband is the only one who goes by 2 names.

My son is named John-Paul. His middle name is my maiden name (Steward). We debated about the hyphen but decided for it because we wanted it to be clear that John-Paul is his first name. At least in writing it seems more clear to people how his name is set up.

We call him JP, Johnny-Paulie, and when he is ignoring me some times I try to get his attention with Juan Pablo 😂

We have a little girl on the way, and so far our top contenders are Abigail, Clare, Audrey and Teresa. I also like Magdalene. I would like another double name but my husband hasn’t taken to any girl double names so far. But my favorites are Marie Therese and Mary Margaret.

Our John Paul is the 9th of 11. His first name is John Paul and middle name is Joseph. Older siblings: Matthew John (for John the Baptist); Rebekah Marie; Joshua Michael; Mary Elizabeth Rose; Victoria Veronica Mirjana; Daniel Richard, Angela Michelle Marie, Katherine RoseMary Therese…younger siblings: Michael Patrick Gerard and Benjamin George Xavier.

I have a cousin John Paul (first name, middle name) but he has always gone by both. He’s in his 30s, so named during JPII’s papacy. His sibs are Emily Jean, Christina Marie, Elizabeth Ann, and Katherine Rose. He has his own kids now, including John Paul Jr., who is predominantly and affectionately nicknamed JPII. 🙂 His sibs are Isaiah, Samuel (Sammy), and the newest addition (born last night!!) Raquel.

We have a JohnMark Joseph! My husband was set on combining John and Mark to make sure the Mark didn’t get dropped. So far it has worked! We also have Clara Frances Ann (goes by Clara, Frances and Ann are two middles) but I love double names and traditional but a *little* different. We are expecting #3 and are pretty set on Mary Margaret (as first, middle but I would probably call her by both names but not expect others to). But we are so lost on boys! What goes with JohnMark?? Traditional saint name but not boring??

I love that you did JohnMark, and that your hubby was set on it!! I could never get mine on board with double names! I think your “traditional saint name but not boring” description is perfect for a brother for JohnMark — I’m thinking Augustine, Benedict, Damian, or maybe a last name like Bosco, Campion, or Becket.

Thank you so much for responding! I found Clara from reading your blog and am such a fan! We have the great problem of being surrounded by so many Catholic families that alllll have young boys so it’s hard for us to separate those names from the family. But we love Bosco!

Blog Stats

1,187,477 hits

Email me!

sanctanomina@gmail.com

Search for:

"Choose your names in a joyful way. / Think of the Saints and holy things, / And then just watch how your heart sings / When the name meant for you to choose / Comes to your mind, as you do muse!"
~ name wisdom from my Mom, an Irish poet

Amazon Affiliate

Sancta Nomina is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Start shopping!